By Mohammed Uriel Hadebbe
At the 3rd Session of the 6th Pan African Parliament, Russell Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatin, delivered a powerful statement emphasizing the need for Africa to tap into its vast potential and adopt homegrown solutions to its problems.
“Africa has a great potential, whose time is right to be realized in our lifetime,” Dlamini began. “Our continent is blessed with natural endowments, mineral resources, and a vibrant youth population. These assets must be protected from internal and external stresses that seek to exploit and plunder them.”
Dlamini lamented the historical exploitation of Africa’s resources, noting that “exporting raw materials is tantamount to exporting jobs and wealth outside of our continent.” He advocated for value addition through beneficiation, skills sharing, and mutually beneficial partnerships for technology transfer.
Emphasizing the importance of education, Dlamini stressed that “our predominantly young population must be skilled and empowered to uplift our economies.” He encouraged innovation, technology adoption, and critical thinking, saying, “Our youth must be encouraged to be innovative and technology-savvy, capable of solving Africa’s problems with homegrown solutions.”
Dlamini also shared his country’s experience with democracy, highlighting the limitations of Western-style democracy and the benefits of their traditional system, the “Tingula System of Democracy,” which combines elements of Western and traditional systems. This system, he explained, has promoted stability, human rights, and women’s empowerment.
In conclusion, Dlamini emphasized the need for Africa to believe in its own people and solutions, saying, “The time for believing that the best solutions to our problems should come from abroad is over.”
